Jane Austen Books and Discussion

Jane Austen is my “comfort” read, listen-to, and watch! And I know I’m not the only one. There has been a slew of new Jane Austen related books as well as the new Being Jane movie (which I, for one, am boycotting — but we will probably buy for the library.)

Library Journal just published an article about the Jane Austen phenomenon.

And I’ve updated our list of Jane Austen sequels and spin-offs into a brochure with descriptions. I’m including a linkable list here. I’d love to hear from people about which versions they have liked. The Pamela Aiden series is quite good (although it needs a good proofreader) and I’ve already read it twice. I did not care for the Alexandra Potter book, but I did finish it which is more than I can say about Darcy’s diary. I just re-listened to Sense and Sensibility and realized that I don’t really like it. The secondary characters aren’t as fun as those in Pride and Prejudice or Emma. Which is your favorite Austen?

Pride and Prejudice Sequels and Spinoffs

• An Assembly Such as This by Pamela Aiden. Continues with Duty and Desire and This three remain.
• An Unequal Marriage: Pride and Prejudice Twenty Years Later by Emma Tennant
• Austenland by Shannon Hale (also in audio)
• Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
• The Confession of Fitzwilliam Darcy by Mary Street (LP)
• Darcy’s Story by Janet Aylmer
• First Impressions by Debra White Smith (LP)
• Jane Austen in Boca: A Novel by Paula Marantz Cohen
• Lady Catherine’s Necklace by Joan Aiken.
• Letters from Pemberley by Jane Dawkins
• Lions and Liquorice by Kate Fenton. (LP) Also published as Vanity and Vexation.
• The Man who loved Jane Austen by Sally Smith O’Rourke
• Me and Mr. Darcy by Alexandra Potter.
• Mr. Darcy takes a wife by Linda Berdoll (Originally published as The Bar Sinister, Pride and Prejudice Continues.) Sequel is Darcy & Elizabeth.)
• Mr. Darcy’s Daughters by Elizabeth Aston (One of many books by this author.)
• Pemberley or Pride and Prejudice Continued by Emma Tennant
• Presumption: An Entertainment by Julia Barrett
• Pride and prescience, or A truth universally acknowledged by Carrie Bebris. Continues with Suspense and Sensibility and North by Northanger.
• Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field: A Novel by Melissa Nathan
• Teverton Hall by Jane Gillespie

Sense and Sensibility Sequels and Spinoffs

• Eliza’s Daughter by Joan Aiken.
• The Third Sister: A Continuation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility by Julia Barrett (also in audio)

Emma Sequels and Spinoffs

• A Visit to Highbury: Another View of Emma by Joan Austen-Leigh Also Later Days at Highbury.
• Jane Fairfax: Jane Austen’s Emma, Through Another’s Eyes by Joan Aiken

Mansfield Park Sequels and Spinoffs

• Ladysmead by Jane Gillespie.
• Mansfield Revisited by Joan Aiken
• Version and diversion by Judith Terry
• The Youngest Miss Ward by Joan Aiken

Persuasion Sequels and Spinoffs

• Family Fortune by Laurie Horowitz.
• Jane Austen in Scarsdale: or love, death and the SATs by Paula Marantz Cohen

Featuring Jane Austen

• Antipodes Jane: a novel of Jane Austen in Australia by Barbara Ker Wilson.
• Jane and the unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor by Stephanie Barron. This mystery series is up to at least 9 titles. (available in sound)

Other Austen-related novels

• The Jane Austen book club by Karen Joy Fowler (available in sound)
• Confessions of a Jane Austen addict by Laurie Viera Rigler
• Sex & Sensibility by Rosemarie Santini.